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At the ranch, girls as young as 13 are said to have been "spiritually married" to middle-aged men and required to have sex with their new husbands on a bed inside a huge temple building.

One man living there is alleged to have had 20 wives and a 16-year-old girl was said to have given birth to four children.

It was raided in April 2008 following an anonymous call from a woman at the ranch. A total of 439 children were then removed, making it the largest child custody case in American history.

Jessop's trial is taking place in the same isolated community where the ranch is located and prosecutors said the case may have to be moved to find an impartial jury.

Sect members have been deliberately registering themselves to vote so they can be selected for jury duty in the trials of the dozen men.

As potential jurors lined up outside the makeshift courthouse for Jessop's trial yesterday at least 10 of them were clearly members of the sect, including women wearing traditional ankle-length prairie dresses.

Two of Jessop's alleged "wives" will give evidence in what is expected to be a two week trial.

One of those girls is said to have become pregnant and was in labour for several days in August 2005, when she was 16, but was not taken to hospital.

Jessop is said to have married his other "wife" the day after she turned 15. Under Texas law a girl under 17 cannot consent to sex with an adult.

Prosecutors allege that Jessop had a total of nine wives. He is the son of the current leader of the sect.

Jeffs, the sect leader, was arrested in 2006 and convicted as an accomplice to rape in Utah for arranging an underage marriage there.

Since the raid all but five of the children have been returned to their families who live in log cabins at the ranch.

Flora Jessop, a second cousin of Raymond Jessop who left the sect 15 years ago, said: "Everyone views him as a hero and martyr. Being on trial has not and will not hurt his image at all. All 12 of these guys are viewed that way.

"What I'm upset the most about is the fact that none of the women have been indicted as well.

"I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them."

The sect splintered from the Mormon church which is officially known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.